Unauthorized use of telecommunications subscriber units costs the telecommunications industry very significant annual revenue losses. As a consequence, this industry is continually attempting to come up with more effective subscriber authentication measures.
It is known in the telecommunications art to require the subscriber to enter a Personal Identification Number (PIN) for every subscriber unit call. However, this type of authentication system is susceptible to eavesdropping by unauthorized users who can capture the PIN and use it to make unauthorized calls. Moreover, requiring the subscriber to use a PIN imposes a burden on the subscriber, who already can have an excess of passwords and PINs to keep track of for access to various equipment and systems.
Another known approach to the problem of unauthorized calls is to require the subscriber to use a Subscriber Information Module (SIM) card containing the PIN. However, SIM cards can be lost, stolen, forgotten, or misplaced.
Thus, what is needed are an improved user-authentication system and method for granting subscriber unit access only to authorized subscribers of a communication system.
Also needed is an improved communication system which does not require the subscriber to use a SIM card or enter a PIN number before using the subscriber unit.
Further needed is an improved communication system which allows multiple subscribers to have access to a single subscriber unit without using SIM cards or entering PIN numbers.